Earthbound Goddess
by Kawaii Neko Yokai
Summary: A murder. An Egyptian lord. And a goddess just out for revenge. When the Egyptian goddess Bastet decided to adopt mortal form to take revenge for a slain cat, she never expected her own sister to betray her and trap her that way. Enter a certian pharaoh..
1. An Innocent's Spilled Blood

KNY: Hiya peoples! KNY here bringing you my very first YGO fic! This is also my first serious story. I know I haven't updated my other stories in forever, but they're undergoing some major revisions and I have writer's block on them. Still, I'm starting this against my better judgment. Why are you still reading up here? Go read the fic already!!

Yami: The disclaimer, KNY...

KNY: What?

Joey: Ya know, the thing that says you don't own us.

KNY: Gah! When'd you get here?

Joey: Just now. Now do the disclaimer!

KNY: Why would I have to do that?

Joey: 'Cause ya don't own us!

KNY: Grrrrrr... shut up chihuahua!

Joey: I am not a chihuahua!

KNY: Are too! Anyway.

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. May the force not sue me.

An Innocent's Spilled Blood

Although late, the monsoon had come at last to break summer's fearful heat. Marjari stood beside the peacock window in her room in the House of Nine Jewels, staring out at the steady rain and idly stroking her favorite pet. The midnight black cat pressed against Marjari's body, a warmly vibrating bundle of soft fur and hard muscle. The cat's purr created a gentel counterpoint to the harsh music of the silver rain.

'Harsh music indeed. But I should savor its sound; when it ceases, he will come, and I must smile and persuade him to be generous… and he is not a generous man.'

Sighing, Marjari put the little cat on the window ledge and leaned out into the heavy, monsoon rain. Water poured over her face, smearing the kohl outlining her dark eyes and blurring the view of the Egyptian city beyond as if she stared through tears.

'He knows about the child; he knows and yet says nothing. It is his, he must acknowledge that, and give me money, for if he does not…' If her patron did not support the child, Ugrata-Ma, owner of the House of Nine Jewels, would have the infant poisoned with opium or flung into the streets for the dogs to devour. Only the hope of favors from the Egyptian lord had kept Ugrata-Ma from taking swift action to prevent the child's birth.

But it was becoming obvious to the ruler of the House of Nine Jewels that Marjari's patron would not pay more to ensure the life of the child he had fathered. And now it was far to late for any potions to ease Marjari of the burden of new life. The child would be born soon, and then it would die; there was no place for useless infants in the House of Nine Jewels…

'And I cannot bear to give birth to a child only to see it die!' Tears mingled with rain on Marjari's cheeks; beside her, the black cat leaned against Marjari's arm, patting her wet face with a silk-soft paw.

Half-smiling, Marjari caught the worried cat up in her arms. "You try to comfort me, like the true friend you are." Of all the many cats Marjari fed, this little one was her darling; her companion during forlorn days and cruel nights. Marjari kissed the top of the cat's silk-furred head and scratched her delicate jaw. The cat purred, whiskers bristling like slender sword blades.

"Perhaps you are right," Marjari told the cat, "Perhaps he will be kind. Perhaps- "

"Perhaps what, my pet?" As usual, her lordly patron had entered unannounced, striding in without permitting Marjari even a moment to prepare herself. Smiling with professional ease, Marjari allowed the cat to flow out of her arms to the floor.

"I am pleased that you have come at last, my lord. That is all." Marjari moved forward to take his headpiece, and his coat; long practice enabled her to ignore the harsh sent of meat-eater emanating from his skin.

"Missed me, I see." His voice was as harsh as his scent, his words clipped and discordant. He handed Marjari his elegant headpiece, but then shrugged her away, refusing to allow her to remove his coat.

"Of course, my lord." Marjari laid the headpiece on a painted chest, then faced him, studying his hard face and pale, gray eyes, hoping to find some kindness lurking there, but his unfamiliar face told her nothing.

Summoning all her courage, Marjari smiled and laid her hand on his arm. "How could I not miss the father of my child?"

He frowned and shook off her soft hand "Not that again! Now see here girl– I've told you before, this brat's none of my concern, if it's mine at all! You're a common whore; how do I know how many other men you've had to your bed?"

Gasping at the insult, Marjari drew herself up and met his hostile eyes bravely. "I am not a whore, my lord- what you have paid for has been yours alone."

"So you say." He scowled, and kicked absently at the white Chinese carpet beside her bed. "_I_ say you're a lying whore."

Marjari gasped again, and the little cat beside her growled low in her throat. The cat did not like the strange man who came so frequently and pawed her mistress; he smelled vile, and sounded rabid. He made her mistress weep, and she did not like that, either.

"Damn it, girl! Stop wailing at me like- like a damned alley cat! You can send me a note after the brat's born. I'll come and see you and bring you a present- when you've got your looks back, that is."

Grabbing up his headpiece from the painted chest, the man turned away, and Marjari realized he was leaving their child to whatever fate Ugrata-Ma decreed for it. "No!" she cried, clutching his arm, "No you mustn't-"

The rich lord rounded on her, growling like a rabid dog. "Damn you! Stop bugging me, wench!" He shoved Marjari away; awkward the burden of her unborn child, she stumbled backward, nearly treading on the cat's tail.

The man followed, and loomed over her. "Now listen to me, girl. You've had your fun, and your money, now leave me alone!" To emphasize his command, he grabbed Marjari's arm and shook her.

It was too much. Angered, the midnight-colored cat slashed at his ankles. Claws like tiny scimitars ripped through the man's pants, sinking deep into soft flesh. But the cat's claws, fully extended, caught in the cloth, and she could not pull her paw free-

Releasing Marjari's arm, the man swore, his words a loud snapping like the barking of dogs. "Damned cat- nasty, sly beast- just like a woman-" As he snarled and swore, he bent, reaching for the trapped cat. "I'll take care of you- you bloody cat-"

Crying out, Marjari rushed forward. But she was too late; the man grabbed the little cat by the scruff of its neck and hurled it from him. There was a small, harsh thud as the cat's body hit the wall.

Marjari stooped beside the limp body and stroked the cat's soft fur. There was no response. Marjari glared up at the man as tears streaked black kohl over her flushed cheeks.

"You have killed it," she accused.

"Oh, stop sniveling woman. It was a damned, nasty, stinking beast that wouldn't waste an eye blink over you. Not like a dog. Now a dog knows how to be loyal. Faithful. Not like a cat- or a woman," he added, strolling over to gaze down at Marjari as she crouched beside the body of the little cat.

"Besides, the alleyway's full of the damned animals. Now, leave it lie, and come show me how well you can please me," he said lying on the bed and beckoning her. "Maybe I'll let you have a dog," he added thoughtfully. "A dog's a suitable pet for a woman, if it's a pretty one. But no more damned cats! Do you understand?"

Marjari understood. She understood that to the man, she herself was of no more importance than the little cat he'd slain, and the child they had created together would be of less importance to him than a pretty puppy… Marjari let her hand rest for a moment on the cooling body of the cat, then rose to her feet and stared at him.

"You are an evil man," Marjari told him in a cool, clear voice, "and you will be punished for what you have done today. Now leave me, for I am done with you."

"But I'm not done with you," the man said, and grabbed Marjari by her braided and jeweled hair.

She fought him, using her gilded nails to rip his cheeks and her sharp teeth to bite his grasping hands.

"Damned bitch!" he barked, and slammed his fist into Marjari's temple, sending her staggering back. His second blow beat her to her knees, and his third to the floor to lie beside the body of the black cat. The man stood silent for a moment, breathing heavily and glaring at the fallen creatures. Then he stalked over, stiff-legged with anger, and kicked Marjari's rounded belly.

"Damned bitch," he repeated, and then kicked the cat's body for good measure.

Unbeknownst to the angry lord, a violet-haired woman looked on in fury. How dare he slay one of her children and her mistress! The Egyptian goddess Bastet glared down at the mortal who had killed one of her favorite children, and looked at the dying woman in pity.

'She will die, as the cat had done, and that man walks free- no!' The goddess's aqua eyes flashed sharply in a rare display of rage. He would pay, and pay dearly. She wanted revenge, but she would need a lot of power. She would go to her sister. Together they formed the Way of the Guardian Cat, Bastet, goddess of mothers, children, and pregnant women, and Sekhmet, bloodthirsty and violent goddess of war and divine vengeance.

"Well, well, my little sister," a low sultry voice said. "To what do I owe this surprise visit?"

Bastet looked to scarlet-clad figure of her older sister, who was calmly lounging on a long couch fashioned from the finest silks and ivory. Her sister was as much of a beauty as Bastet herself, with her shimmering, red-gold hair and blood-red eyes. Bastet adopted an innocent look and commented, "What? Do I need a reason to visit my one and only sister?"

The goddess raised one delicately arched eyebrow. "Okay then, why the sudden interest? I hardly believe you came for a social chat and a cup of tea."

"Of course not. I wouldn't bother you for trivial nonsense."

"Is Horus flirting with you again? You know I 'd be glad to take him off your hands," the blonde deity remarked, red eyes twinkling in a rare show of amusement.

Bastet rolled her own aquamarine eyes and then looked at Sekhmet with such seriousness that she immediately stopped joking and adopted a somber expression.

"I need your help."

Sekhmet's eyes widened in surprise, but then she recovered her composure to ask, "Why?"

"A mortal has taken two innocents' lives today."

"Why is that such a big deal? Humans do that all the time," Sekhmet replied, taking a drink of the red wine that had suddenly appeared in her hand.

"One was a cat," Bastet answered matter-of-factly.

Sekhmet gasped and nearly chocked on the crimson liquid as this information registered in the goddess's mind.

"W-what?" Sekhmet's voice shook with shock as the wine trickled out of a corner of her mouth.

"You heard me."

Sekhmet's eyes darkened and hardened until they looked like garnets. "That is a crime punishable by death, but normally the humans take care of things like that. Why do you feel the need for divine intervention?"

"No one saw him."

"Ah, I see. And just what did you have in mind?"

Bastet explained her plan, her elder sister smiling evilly and nodding in approval.

"Excellent idea, Bastet! We'll begin immediately."

Bastet stretched her claws and gave a cruel smirk.

Marjari's daughter slipped into life just as Marjari herself slipped out of it. Ignoring the dead woman, the old midwife, who had been hastily summoned by Ugrata-Ma, concentrated all her efforts on preserving the newborn girl. After all the years and all the children she had brought into the uncaring world, the midwife possessed certain gifts of prophecy.

"She will be special, this one," the midwife said, wiping the silent infant clean with Marjari's second-best veil. "She will be a beauty. She will someday control the fate of the world."

And, trusting the old midwife's judgment, Ugrata-Ma decided to let Marjari's daughter live, and set the opium bottle back in her sandalwood chest. The poison would keep for use on another occasion…

KNY: Wooooooooow! That was a long one!

Yami: Now will you be able to keep it up?

KNY: Hopefully! (nervous smile and sweatdrop) Damn them for taking away the smiles…

All YGO boys: R&R!

KNY: You heard the bishies! Now review!!!


	2. A Goddess's Vengeance

KNY: Okay Minnasan! Let's roll!

Joey: Whaddya mean "Minnasan"? Only two people reviewed!

KNY: You. Off my planet. NOW!

Joey:** poofs away**

KNY: Now we'll have Yami come do the disclaimer! **smile**

Yami: Roses are red. Violets are blue. KNY doesn't own YGO. And neither do you!

KNY: Thank you Yami-kun!

Yami: Can I go home now?

KNY: No.

Yami: **sigh**

A Goddess's Vengeance

When she first opened her human eyes, they glowed a soft, milky blue, like those of a week-old kitten. As she grew, the blue deepened and hardened until her eyes shone a clear, true aquamarine, like the eyes of a cat. Those aqua eyes named her, when she grew too old to simply be called "Lali"-"little jewel"-like all the other little girls dwelling in the House of Nine Jewels. Cat-eyes.

Cat-eyes grew swiftly towards womanhood, as if some inner goad urged her to maturity. Although cool and aloof, and far too fond of her own way for Ugrata-Ma's liking, the girl lapped up knowledge as if it alone would make her fortune. By the time she was twelve, Cat-eyes possessed all the skills she required, and more besides.

She knew how to paint her face to skillfully enhance her slanting eyes and her small, prim mouth. She knew how to select veils to set off the whiteness of her skin and bright jewels to highlight her deep violet hair. She could recite amorous love lyrics, epic poems, and riddles. She could tell fortunes and play chess.

She could sing in a pure, clear voice, and she knew all the appropriate songs for every occasion, and when each should be sung, how, and why.

And she could dance-and when Cat-eyes danced, even the most arrogant of the House's bartered jewels stopped to stare, entranced, as Cat-eyes arched and swayed across silken carpets, her garments flowing about her like wayward leaves.

She had learned cruel skills, too: the crafts of perfumes and poisons. But these dark talents were hers alone. Ugrata-Ma did not know all that Cat-eyes knew.

And one day, Ugrata-Ma pronounced Cat-eyes ready, and Cat-eyes smiled.

She had been ready for a long time.

As with so many who dwelt in the half-world between destitution and respectability, Ugrata-Ma was a great believer in tradition. Tradition declared that a newly unveiled Jewel sing and dance before those who would then bargain for her charms. Though normally courtesans danced in the House, the pharaoh's advisors had informed her, most discreetly of course, that the some lords would be willing to pay much for the violet-haired beauty, perhaps even the pharaoh himself. For Cat-eyes' first night before the men, Ugrata-ma outdid herself: the inner courtyard of the pharaoh's palace became a dream of desire, a false garden perfumed by jasmine garlands coiled about the marble pillars and china roses in silver bowls. For once, lavish expenditure did not trouble Ugrata; the courtesan Cat-eyes would lavishly repay the generosity shown by the House of Nine Jewels.

Ugrata-Ma had selected those who were to attend the evening's entertainment with the utmost care, restricting the guests to the cities richest and most influential men. She was surprised when the nobleman arrived, for she had not invited him-not this time. But he came riding up alone to the palace, dismounted, and casually tossed his horse's reins toward a waiting servant.

"I hear you've something new to show," the Egyptian lord said, and Ugrata-Ma bowed, hastily recalculating. This particular lord tended to be arrogant and difficult at times, but this one was rich- rich enough to buy blind eyes and new playthings after his coarse hands had killed Marjari. But her death had been a long ago incident, and Ugrata-Ma cultivated forgetfulness like a rare flower.

Now she smiled and invited the lord across the threshold into the inner courtyard- and forgot to wonder who had invited him to attend this special night…

Behind a gilded ebony screen, Cat-eyes stood watching as Ugrata-Ma escorted the lord to the second-best seat in the courtyard, the best being the pharaoh's of course.

The man who had once killed a courtesan and her little cat had come at last. As Cat-eyes had known he would come when she carefully inscribed the letter that had invited him here tonight.

He was neither so young nor so handsome as he had been fifteen years before. Sun had burned him a deep, dusty brown; wine had coarsened and blurred the lines of his face; time had faded his once glossy, black hair. But nothing could alter his stone-pale eyes. Unseen Cat-eyes stared at those arrogant eyes; her veil twitched as her rose-painted fingers toyed with the glittering fabric, and her neat, pink tongue licked her reddened lips.

"Do not be nervous, child." Fussy as an old hen, Ugrata-Ma adjusted a strand of pearls lying across Cat-eyes' breast. Ugrata-Ma's fingers trembled, and the pearls rattled softly, a sound like raindrops upon leaves.

"I am not nervous," Cat-eyes said, ignoring her mentor's fretting.

"You are the most precious of my jewels- you are perfection itself."

"Yes," said Cat-eyes, "I know." And then she waited until Ugrata-Ma bustled off to sit beside her most important guests; waited, still as stone, until it was time to walk out from behind the ebony screen into the flower-decked courtyard. To walk out before the waiting men- and dance…

Pharaoh Yami wanted to groan in boredom, but then his blasted priests would frown at him for that show of disrespect. They were the ones who had wanted him to come here in the first place. He had absolutely _no_ intention of finding a bride, not right now anyway. He fully meant to simply watch whatever little show of scantily-clad women they had to offer, let his lords bid like they always did, and then go to bed.

It had been an abnormally rough day for the young pharaoh. There had been reports of slave rebellions on several of the providences, fifteen tomb robberies, _and_ an assassination attempt on top of all that!

He covered a yawn and tried unsuccessfully to find a more comfortable spot on the golden throne. Who ever came up with a solid gold throne was a complete and total idiot. That, or they obviously didn't know what it was like to sit in a metal chair all day.

Yami's red-purple eyes drifted over to an old crone who had just walked up in front of the courtyard after seating Katsuro.

"My lords," she intoned, trying to sound impressive and failing miserably in Yami's opinion, "I am Ugrata-Ma, owner and proprietor of the House of Nine Jewels. I have for you a show starring nothing but my absolute finest. A girl of unparalleled beauty and unsurpassed skill who at the young, robust age of fifteen has already mastered all of the skills that still elude even the most experienced of my courtesans. But rather than attempt to describe her, I'll simply allow her now to perform for you tonight. Gentlemen, in her very first performance, may I present the courtesan Cat-eyes!"

Yami's eyes, which had previously been clouded with fatigue, instantly snapped open as what he could only describe as a goddess entered the courtyard…

Within the courtyard, the air was hot and still, the scent of roses and jasmine heavy as smoke. Cat-eyes walked across a carpet of velvet, soft as spring grass beneath her rose-painted feet. At the center of the courtyard, she paused, her eyes cast modestly down, waiting still and poised as a goddess… and a heartbeat before the music began, Cat-eyes teal eyes snapped open, and stared into the lord's cruel eyes. And then, as the music began to swirl through the heated air, and slowly, sensuously, Cat-eyes began to dance.

At first, her masculine audience murmured with delight as they watched. But gradually, almost imperceptibly, the sounds of approbation ceased, dying away until the only sound within the courtyard was the languid swirl of music and the chime of gold against gem as Cat-eyes danced.

Fluid as sunlight, she wove across the Persian carpet, light and joyous as a cat dancing after a butterfly in a harem garden. Graceful as moonlight, she drifted like incense and passion's sighs through the perfumed air.

Supple as midnight, she flowed within the music, a carnal shadow to the love song's pure ardent cries. And as she danced, Cat-eyes never lifted her intent, hunting gaze from the lord's avid, greedy face. And unbeknownst to her, a pair of violet eyes never left her as well…

The Egyptian lord wanted her; that outcome had been ordained long before Cat-eyes set her pretty foot on the velvet garden spread before him. The only question was of price- and whatever Ugrata-Ma asked, Cat-eyes knew the lord would pay.

Cat-eyes remained seated in the final pose in the lovers' dance, motionless as a waiting cat, and Ugrata-Ma feigned doubt and misgivings, and the man responded in harsh, urgent tones.

At last, Ugrata-Ma yielded to his persuasions, and beckoned. At the single, Cat-eyes rose and padded over to the dais, setting each foot so gently on the Persian carpet that the silver bangles around her ankles made no sound. Cat-eyes bowed before the man who wished to become her master and touched her smooth forehead to his sandaled foot.

"Pretty little thing," the lord commented, lifting Cat-eyes' pointed chin with his toe so he could look at her skillfully painted face. "Well-trained too," he added approvingly, and bent forward to pat Cat-eyes on her cool cheek. "Had a dog like that once."

Ugrata-Ma smiled politely, and- most discreetly, opened negotiations for this most glittering prize of all her costly jewels.

And so the arrangement was made. Cat-eyes herself took no part in the bargaining that followed; she knew the outcome, for she knew that until the greedy lord possessed her, his desire for that possession would overrule all other lusts. She need not fear that he would refuse to pay what Ugrata-Ma asked. And Cat-eyes had her own preparations to make before their evening of passions could be consummated.

Cat-eyes studied her long, elegantly filed nails, and smiled like a cat in sunlight…

Tonight he would come, and she would be ready for him. She had dressed for the equation with exquisite care, each choice, each selection, flawless and deliberate. Now she shimmered in silks of midnight and moonglow, a phantom in ebony and ivory. Black and white; a strange choice for a courtesan's first night. But Cat-eyes had insisted, and Cat-eyes had a knack for getting her own way.

'Black and white for memory. And now red, for luck…' 

Cat-eyes touched her forefinger to the scarlet powder in the alabaster jar and then pressed the reddened fingertip to the smooth skin of her forehead. Tilting her head, Cat-eyes inspected her face in the mirror inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The luck-spot gleamed between the violet crescent moons of her brows like fresh blood.

'Perfect. I am perfect.' Smiling a cat's small smile, Cat-eyes laid the mirror back down again on the rosewood table. She was perfect and was perfectly ready for tonight's events.

'It has been fifteen years since you slew a courtesan and her little cat, arrogant lord. Fifteen years you have gone unpunished for your sins.' Cat-eyes smiled again, her teeth shone like ivory fangs against her crimson lips. 'Now, dog, you will learn the faithfulness of cats.'

Beyond the sandalwood door, she heard heavy footfalls, and even heavier breathing; the mingled scents of alcohol and carnivore's rank sweat seeped through the latticework. Cat-eyes wrinkled her nose in distaste, then schooled her expression to one of modest welcome. It was a simple matter, for the ruse need only fool a man.

She sat her eyes cast meekly down, lashes masking cunning blue-green eyes, mouth curved in a goddess's serene smile. Hands folded placidly in her lap, half-hidden by the misty folds of her veil. As the door slowly opened, Cat-eyes allowed her rose-painted fingers to stretch and curve as a hunting cat might flex its velvet-sheathed claws.

In the soft breath of wind from the opening door, lamplight danced and shadows flickered. The little flames within the pierced lovers' lamps scattered about the room flared tiger-bright.

And in the light of those shadowed flames, Cat-eyes freshly gilded and poisoned nails flashed as long and sharp as claws…

KNY: Okay, that's it all!

Yami: Can I go- NOW?

KNY: Must you? **hands Yami Dark Magician plushie**

Yami: No, I don't! **grabs plushie** REVIEW!!

KNY: You heard the pharaoh! R&R!

Yami: Didn't they already read?

KNY: Good point. Well, REVIEW THEN! Push the little purple button!


	3. Ominous Signs and a Betrayal of Trust

(October 26) KNY: Okay, reposting this with a better format. I was having to deal with another word processor until I got Microsoft Word. I hope this one's easier to read!!

KNY: Okeyday! I'm back with the next chapter of "Earthbound Goddess"! Sorry for the wait, school started and then I had some family problems, but now I'm back and typing on my brand new laptop! (smiles) My birthday was a couple weeks ago. (does a happy dance)

Kiki: You really are pathetic.

KNY: (glare) Shaddup. Oh, this is Kiki, my BFF. She keeps changing her pen name, so I'll just call her Kiki!

Disclaimer: Roses are red, violet are blue... wait a second... violets aren't blue! Anyway I don't own 'em.

Ominous Signs and a Betrayal of Trust

Yami squinted his eyes as the late afternoon sun's glare entered the bedecked throne room and was multiplied many-fold by the golden ornaments hanging on the walls. The blinding light was starting to give him a headache. As much as he loved his Egyptian homeland, the summer afternoons were by far the worst times to be out and about. The snow-white silk binding his legs was soaked with his sweat and clung to him in very uncomfortable places. The ceremonial armbands and heavy crown weren't helping matters much.

He sat atop his throne, wearing an expression that could only be called sulky. He had just finished another long and boring ceremony, doing his duty of providing entertainment for the visiting foreign dignitaries and accepting all of the gifts. Yami carelessly tossed yet another golden statue into the growing pile beside him. Great, more gold. Did people not know he had enough of the stuff?! He was honestly getting to the point where he couldn't stand the sight of the yellow metal!

Yami sighed in agitation. How he wished Ra would send some excitement into his life! Of course he meant _besides_ all the problems plaguing Egypt lately. He had more than his fare share recently, what with the droughts, rebellions, and barbarian attacks from the East.

Unfortunately, our favorite pharaoh had not heard the phrase "Be careful what you wish for". Fate had plenty of excitement in store for him.

"Your Highness!"

"What?" Yami snapped, irritably. He was not in the mood to be bothered with more meaningless details.

The guard seemed momentarily taken aback by Yami's sharp response, but quickly recovered and went on. "We have caught a murderer, my lord!"

Yami suppressed a groan of suffering and resisted the urge to massage his temples to sooth his head. This was ancient Egypt, after all. Someone was always ticking someone else off, so murder was a pretty common thing in those days. "Who was killed?" he asked, bored.

"Lord Katsuro," the guard answered, surprised at his lord's lack of concern.

"Bring the killer to me," Yami commanded, now even more irritated because now he would have to stay even longer to pass judgment on some random commoner. This guy would seriously pay for keeping Yami from his well-deserved rest. He straightened in his bejeweled throne and put on his most impressive I'm-the-pharaoh-so-you-better-bow-down-and-worship-me-unless-you-wish-to-die-a-slow-and-painful-death expression and waited for them to drag the criminal in.

"Let me go you son-of-crocodile who smells of camel-spittle! May you die the deaths of a thousand flies!!" a feminine voice cried.

"What in Ra's name…?" Yami's violet eyes widened as his gaze landed on the figure being pulled in by a rather disgruntled guard.

The silk-clad guard shoved the still cursing girl directly in front of the pharaoh's raised throne and wiped the sweat off his brow in relief. However, the girl refused to kneel, and instead stood and looked directly at Yami's face.

The young ruler experienced a sudden feeling of déja vu, as he stared at the criminal before him. Twin pools of aquamarine glared up at him, set in a small, heart-shaped face, abnormally pale for an Egyptian. Her deep violet hair looked as if it had once been in a braid, but now fell down her back in tangled waves. She held her chin up proudly, wild defiance in every inch of her pose, as she glared fearlessly at him. She had a smudge of mud on her left cheekbone, and her gown had definitely seen better days. Yami wasn't sure exactly what his guards would bring in, but this black-and-white-clad ball of fury was definitely_ not _what he had expected.

Though she stood below his throne, she gave Yami the impression she was looking down her pert nose at him, almost haughtily. Yami opened his mouth to speak, but the girl cut him off.

"You're the pharaoh? Awfully short aren't you?" she asked, raising a delicately arched eyebrow.

Yami had to open and close his mouth several times while the court had a sudden coughing fit.

One guard strode forward, sputtering with anger. "How dare you speak to the pharaoh like that?! It's disrespectful, demeaning, and-" His tirade was cut off as the girl fixed her unsettling gaze at him as if she held a blade to his thick, corded throat.

"How dare _I _speak to him like that?" her aquamarine gaze held a smoldering look of pure fury that belied her calm words as she spoke to the guard. "_He's_ the one protecting that DOG! What kind of ruler allows men like that son-of-a-snake to break universal law and go around killing innocent women and cats, and yet denies divine justice?! Can you answer me that, stupid man?!"

The guard gulped and edged back from the girl, not just because of her words. There was something eerily inhuman about her gaze. He could have sworn her pupils slitted like a cat's for a second there.

She closed her eyes for a moment, composing herself, and turned back to Yami who had yet to say anything since she had entered. She raised an eyebrow as if expecting him to say something.

"Who are you? And what did you mean by 'killing innocent women and cats'?" Yami asked once he finally reconnected his brain to his mouth.

"I'm rather hurt that you don't remember me, _my lord,_" she answered, stressing the words 'my lord' sarcastically. "After all, you just saw me the other night."

Yami had been racking his brain for the past few minutes trying to remember where he had seen her before, but her comment clicked in his head. "You're the dancer from the House of Nine Jewels!"

She spread her black-and-white skirts out in a slight curtsy. "I'm honored you remember my modest performance, my pharaoh." She peeked up at him under demurely lowered lashes, and though her posture and voice were humble, her kohl-lined eyes glittered mockingly. "I am called Cat-eyes. And as far as what I meant by 'killing innocent women and cats', I think it should be perfectly obvious what I meant."

Part of Yami wanted to order her death right away for making a fool of him in front of his own court, but not a very big part. She represented a challenge, and Yami Moto _never_ backed down from a challenge.

"I shall retire for the night to consider the murderer known as Cat-eyes's punishment. For now," Yami smirked, "Keep her in the dungeon."

He soon regretted that decision for as his guards took Cat-eyes away, the look she gave him set the fear of the more violent gods into him.

Curse them all to Anubis's realm and back! Cat-eyes was so angry she could hardly see straight. How DARE they treat her this way?!

She sighed and looked around the dingy, damp cell they had locked her in. Water dripped from the ceiling and landed with an unpleasant splat on the cold, moss-covered stones. One would think there wouldn't be enough moisture in _Egypt_ for there to be mold, but the Fates seemed determined to make her day miserable. She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the smell of filth and urine that seemed to hang in the air. She didn't even have a window to look outside. On the bright side, it was cooler that it would have been if she had been closer to the outside. Yeah, _that_ was a real consolation.

Oh well. It wasn't like she would be there for any length of time, anyway. She'd had her revenge so it was time to go. And with that, she closed her eyes and prepared to cast the spell that would free her from that human world and put her back in her celestial home.

_Oh no you don't,_ came a voice from behind Cat-eyes.

**_Who's there?!_**, she snapped, turning around sharply, but she relaxed when she saw who it was.

_Who else would it be, little sister? _

****

**_Sekhmet_********_ What in Ra's name are you doing here?_** Cat-eyes asked the image of her sister. It wasn't the real Sekhmet, just a projected image, but it still had her glittering scarlet eyes and her revealing red gown..

_I simply came to congratulate you on completing your first act of divine vengeance._

****

**_I thought to have him die at the hands of his own 'daughter' would be rather ironic._**

_I know, but still, revenge is usually my forte. I don't know how you stood it for fifteen years here. I mean come on, all these mortals around, you have to eat, and you can feel pain? You even gave up your divine powers!_

****

**_Aww_****_, big sis, you sound worried about me._**

Sekhmet just rolled her crimson eyes. _You know what I mean, Bastet. Who was the cute mortal you were 'talking' to in the throne room? _A smirk graced the divinity's golden tan face, exposing a single fang as she shifted in a way that would make any human man faint.

Cat-eyes snorted softly at her sister's antics. **_You always were such a flirt, Sekhmet, from gods to mortals. You'd love them, then break them. In answer to your question, that was Egypt's current pharaoh, Yami of the Moto family. I didn't think you were that out of touch._**

_Hey, I've been busy! _Sekhmet cried indignantly. _There have been many wars recently, and I've had to go to work. _

****

**_Yes I had noticed the unusual amount of fighting lately. I have a bad feeling about this. May Ra help up us all if the Serpent is going to rouse up more trouble. He's been awfully ambitious lately. _**Cat-eyes furrowed her brow and chewed on her lip thoughtfully, one of the human habits she had picked up in the last fifteen years.****She winced as a sharp tooth cut into her lip.**__**

_Have the humans noticed anything?_

****

**_Well, the pharaoh seemed stressed. _**

_Yeah, stressed and hot! _Sekhmet wiggled her thin eyebrows suggestively.__

****

**_Stay away from him, sister._**__

The scarlet-clad goddess pouted childishly. _Oh fine, fuddy-duddy. You always ruin all my fun. Why can't I? I've done it before._

****

**_You know the Law as well as I do._**_ **Mortal must not love immortal. You'll just end up hurting him.**_

_He's just a silly human! Why do you care so much? Don't tell me you actually like it here?_ Sekhmet's eyes widened in exaggerated shock.

****

**_Don't be so melodramatic. _**Cat-eyes sighed tiredly, massaging her forehead. And Sekhmet was supposed to be the older, more mature sister. Huh, yeah right. **_Why do you think I'm about to leave?_**

_Hmm, but I've rather enjoyed watching you down here. I think I'__ll keep you here for a while._

****

**_WHAT?! You can't do that!!_**__

_The elder goddess smirked. Oh, yes I can. You're mortal now remember? It also looks like someone down here has taken a fancy to you. Daddy-dearest is not going to be happy, much less Horus, since someone is going to try to take his 'little kitten' away. Good luck, little sister._And Sekhmet's image faded in maniacal laughter.

"SEKHMET!!!!" Cat-eyes screamed after her departing sister. "TRAITOR!!"

Cat-eyes fell to her knees, numb with shock. She had forgotten that the other gods had power over her when she was in a human form! STUPID!!

Yami paced back and forth across the elegant marble floor of his room, restless as a caged tiger. What to do about the Cat-eyes girl? He certainly couldn't execute her, not when she posed such a mystery.

What was her reason for murdering Katsuro? He wanted to know, but that wasn't the only reason he couldn't have her killed. What was it about her that fascinated him so? Yami growled lowly in agitation and slammed his fist down onto the expensive ebony dresser, fortunately, it didn't break. He _hated_ not understanding something, even if that something was himself.

Was it simply the questions she posed? Was she just a reprieve from his normal, dull life? She was unlike any girl he had ever met.

Could it be the way she had glared fearlessly at him and then mocked him? She knew who he was, yet she didn't seem to care. That irritated him something fierce, but at the same time intrigued him.

He sighed in irritation and, for lack of a better word, flopped on his silk-sheeted bed. He promptly sank into the overly soft mattress, leaving nothing but an arm sticking out which Yami used to pull himself out. He got back onto his feet and glared at the man-eating bed and resumed pacing.

He wasn't one to be swayed by a pretty face, but Yami had to admit, Cat-eyes was a beautiful young woman. Her namesake suited her well. She was every inch the mysterious beauty that always appeared in scrolls and story-tellers' tales. If she was the damsel in distress, maybe he was the brave hero who saved her and she fell in love with! The thought brought a momentary smile to the youth's face before he shook his head and dismissed it as a mere fantasy. He hardly even knew the girl! And besides, she hardly fit the traditional 'damsel in distress' stereotype. Plus she was a killer.

Yami gripped his chin, deep in thought. What to do, what to do. Maybe if he had another chat with her, he could figure out what to do.

"Guard, have the criminal Cat-eyes prepared for an audience with me," Yami commanded to the guard standing outside his room.

The guard bowed low. "As you wish, my lord."

KNY: ...

Kiki: KNY?

KNY: ...

Kiki: Say something!

KNY: ...

Kiki: Will you talk if I give you Yami? (hands KNY Yami)

KNY: ...

Kiki: Duo?

KNY: ...

Kiki: Legolas

KNY: ...

Kiki: Yuki?

KNY: ...

Kiki: Kurama?!

KNY: ...

Kiki: Oh I give up! (leaves)

KNY: I am now alone with five of the hottest guys on the planet! (smirks and drools) Oh, R&R!!


	4. An Almost Escape and an Audience With th...

KNY: Again I apologize for the long wait. School combined with lack of time prevented be from getting this out for a while!

Joey: You're just lazy.

KNY: Shaddup. Anyway, I hope this chapter helps sooth any ruffled feelings. 6 pages in Word!! **smiles**

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO. I'm just borrowing Yami for a while. **glomps. Shifty eyes** With no intention of returning him...

Lawyers: HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISS!!!

KNY: NO! I will never give in!! Fight the power!! **runs away with Yami in tow**

An Almost Escape and an Audience With the Pharaoh

Cat-eyes stared unseeingly at the damp stone floor, completely disregarding the addition the mold was making to her already substantially damaged dress.

There was no way that just happened. Her sister didn't just trap her here. She had to be kidding. Yeah, that was it. This was just another one of Sekhmet's pranks, like the time she 'accidentally' dropped that bucket of water on her while Horus was watching. Stupid white robe.

With that in mind, Cat-eyes stood and willed herself home. After a minute, she opened one eye to see if it worked. Nope. Maybe she wasn't wishing hard enough. No. After several repeated tries, and slipping on the hem of her dress resulting in a rather painful lump on her head, Cat-eyes was forced to admit defeat.

She sat on the floor, her aquamarine eyes dull with depression. There was no way for her to get home now.

'Wait a minute!' There _was_ a way!

She needed to get to her temple; there she would find the Amulet of Bastet. That highly charmed artifact contained a great deal of her celestial power. She could use the magic of the amulet, combined with the power boost she would get from a full moon, and get home!

Unfortunately, her plans were brought to a screeching halt as she remembered the iron cage she was currently in. Not only was she unable to get out, she would have to get to the temple un-noticed, and that would be difficult. After all, she was a wanted criminal. Damn that cat-killing mortal! Even in his death he found a way to mess her up!

As these realizations sank in, Cat-eyes took in her surroundings again. The cell seemed somehow smaller. She shivered, she _hated_ confined spaces, they made her feel trapped. Her eyes darted around looking for a way out, sweat dripping off her as she felt the walls closing in on her. Normally she didn't have to deal with things like this, she could just will herself out of anywhere, but this captivity was a new thing for her, and she didn't like it. She had to get out.

She nervously ran her fingers through her hair, cursing as her nail caught on a jeweled hair clip, blasted thing. She was about to toss it aside, when an idea struck her. She slipped the metal pin out of its clasp and tried to bend it, to test its durability. It was too soft to pick the iron lock. She was at a dead end again.

She angrily threw the pin away and it landed few feet away in a small pool of moonlight. Wait... moonlight? Cat-eyes scrambled to the fallen bit of metal and picked it up. Her eyes flickered upwards through the small hole in the ceiling where a silver light was leaking through. She must have been in the cell all day! Also, since she could see the night sky, she was much closer to the surface than she originally thought.

Cat-eyes held her hand in the beam, and felt some of her strength return. It wasn't much, but it should be enough to do the job. She clasped the pin in her hand and closed her eyes, willing her power to transfer to it. When she opened her eyes again, the pin was glowing a faint silver.

She then walked over to the lock and inserted the pin. She hummed under her breath as she picked the lock until the sound of the tumblers falling into place reached her ears.

"Bingo!" she said softly as the door swung open revealing her way out. She carefully crept out of her cell, practically grinning at her success. She walked towards the door, too eager at the thought of escaping to notice the hem of her dress dragging on the floor. Then, Fate decided she needed to take a nap. Her foot caught in her fallen hem, and she plummeted to the ground, knocking her out.

She awoke to the sound of the outside lock clicking and the door making a grating sound as it opened. She jerked up and slammed her head into someone's chin.

"By Ra! That hurt!" Came a male's voice.

Cat-eyes opened her eyes, rubbing her still smarting head, and saw a boy slightly older than her human age in front of her. She looked up at him and a pair of startled brown eyes in a slightly tanned face stared down at her.

She opened her mouth to explain what she was doing, when she caught sight of the symbol on his gold armband, a crossed shield and sword, indicating his status. Holy crap, it was the captain of the pharaoh's personal guards!

He appeared confused for a moment as to why she was out of her cell, but quickly grasped her arm in an almost bruising grip.

"Ow! Hey! What do you think you're doing, you brainless monkey?!"

"Hey! Who you callin' a monkey?!" the blonde had a slight accent that Cat-eyes couldn't quite place. "Anyway, his highness the pharaoh wants ta see ya. You'll be comin' with me."

"Well you can tell your master that I'm disinclined to acquiesce to his request." She sighed at the clueless look on his face. "It means no."

"Oh. Well sorry, lady. I gotta do what the pharaoh wants, so you gotta come with me." And with that he proceeded to drag the rather disgruntled Cat-eyes out of the dungeon.

The captain took her down a hall, and turned right, away from the throne room.

"Wait a minute," Cat-eyes said, "The throne room is that way. Where are you taking me?!"

He stopped and stared at her. "How did ya know- never mind. Ya can hardly see his highness in that condition." He gestured towards her ruined dress. "So you're gonna get cleaned up first, and that means a trip to the women's quarters."

"Hey, just hold your horses, buddy!" Cat-eyes angrily pulled her wrist out of his grip and glared up at him. "You never said I'd have to get all gussied up! I am _not_ going to be a living doll for your little maids to play dress-up with!"

The blonde just grabbed her wrist again and smirked. "I'm afraid you have no say in the matter." Before she could react to that, he opened a nearby door and walked her in.

Smells of soap and scented bath oils assaulted her nose and made her head spin. Taking advantage of his charge's disorientation, the captain waved to a servant girl.

"Hey, Mai!"

The blonde girl he had summoned came over hands on her hips and an irritated look on her face.

"What is it now, Jonouchi?" she demanded, "Can't you see I'm a little busy getting the pharaoh's prospective brides ready?"

"Brides?" the blonde idiot now identified as Jonouchi looked clueless once more. Cat-eyes was beginning to think that was a normal look for the inept guard.

Mai sighed. "Yes, Jonouchi. Don't you remember? Since the whole House of Nine Jewels thing didn't work, we had to collect all the eligible noblewomen in Egypt and prepare them for the pharaoh to make his decision."

"Oh yeah! Now I remember!" Jonouchi laughed and scratched the back of his head. Cat-eyes and Mai sweat-dropped in unison. It was then that Mai finally noticed Cat-eyes.

"And who's this? I hope this block-head hasn't gotten you in any kind of trouble."

"Mai!" he whined, "You just automatically assume everything's my fault!"

"That's because it usually is." Came her tart reply.

Cat-eyes openly snickered at the expression on Jonouchi's face. That brought their attention back to her.

"As I was sayin'," he continued, trying to regain what little dignity he had left, "Yami wants ta see the girl."

"Ooooooh, really now?" _That _caught Mai's interest. "Does his highness finally fancy a girl? It's about time!"

"Nah, this is the criminal he tried yesterday. He wanted an audience with her, and she needs to be cleaned up before he sees her."

"Oh, too bad." Mai snapped her fingers in disappointment, having no apparent shock over the fact that she had to 'clean up' a convicted criminal.

"Um, could you guys quit referring to me in third person? I'm still here you know." Cat-eyes had finally gotten sick of them talking about her as if she weren't in the room.

"Oh, sorry." Mai smiled at her apologetically. "We'll get you cleaned up in no time, hun." And before Cat-eyes had time draw and entire breath, Jonouchi was shoved out in the hall and she was steered towards the back courtesy of Mai.

"You know what to do, girls!" Mai said as servants stripped Cat-eyes of her ruined garment and took it away.

The cool air brought goose-bumps to Cat-eyes's bare skin as Mai guided her to a hot bath the size of a swimming pool. By this time Cat-eyes's head had finally stopped whirling, so she asked Mai a question. "Uh, Mai was it? Why am I getting all this? Do all convicted murderers get the royal treatment before seeing the pharaoh?"

Mai laughed, pouring rose scented bath oil into the water. "No, of course not. But you're a lady and, criminal or not, no lady may enter the pharaoh's presence without being prepared."

"Oh." Cat-eyes finished her bath without further comment and dried herself off. Several servants came forward and wrapped a pale, lavender robe around Cat-eyes's slender body. Then Mai escorted her to the dressing room.

Mai slowly walked around Cat-eyes who squirmed under her scrutiny. She had to endure this kind of thing regularly, but never liked it.

"Uh-huh! I have just the thing." Mai disappeared into the gigantic wardrobe. After a few minutes of searching, Mai came out and advanced on Cat-eyes as though she was going to pounce on the nervous girl.

Cat-eyes screwed her eyes shut as Mai helped her into the garment. When she opened her eyes and looked in the mirror, she couldn't help but smirk. Heh. She looked good. It wasn't conceit or pride, simply fact.

The snow-white dress clung to her curves like a silken skin from the neckline to her waist. From there on, it flowed down her legs in a frosty waterfall. Lavender layers of gauze floated about her form in an ethereal cloud accenting her deep violet hair and making her unusual eyes stand out all the more. Like she thought; she looked good.

"Oh, that's _perfect_, hun!" Mai's excited voice punctuated Cat-eyes's previous observation.

With a sharp nod of her head, Cat-eyes showed her agreement to Mai's statement.

"Next, we have got to do something with that hair of yours." Cat-eyes rolled her eyes and allowed herself to be pulled away by Mai and her gaggle of giggling maids.

When they were finally finished with her, Cat-eyes's long tresses were twisted into a single braid hanging just below her waist. Her blue-green eyes shone like gems framed by her long, dark lashes above a violet veil matching the soft tones of her gown. Her only adornments were a basic silver armband and a moonstone pendant on a matching silver chain, but she hardly needed any ornaments.

"There! I think we're finally done," Mai said, clapping her hands and smiling with satisfaction. "Now you may see the pharaoh."

Finally.

A guard, not Jonouchi as he had other business to attend to, guided her to a large room and told her to wait inside. She turned and saw a gigantic bed with cream-colored, silken sheets. Was this a bedroom? With its marble floor and ebony furniture, it was obvious someone important stayed here.

Cat-eyes crept over to the bed and cautiously poked one finger into the mattress. It squished like a marshmallow. Too soft, in Cat-eyes's opinion, and she liked soft things.

Then she saw the open balcony and the sky behind it tinted with the fiery colors of sunset. Had she really been in that room getting ready all day? Oh well. She walked out onto the balcony to watch the sunset and wait for the pharaoh to come…

Yami stalked angrily back to his room muttering unpleasant things under his breath, mainly centering about what he was going to do with Jonouchi's 'delicates' if he ever got a hold of him; most of these methods involving a knife or two.

Jonouchi had called him away from the palace for an 'important' affair. It turned out to be a plot to get him drunk and laid. He swore that if Jonouchi had pushed one more whore in his lap…

Yami was just trying to decide between the crocodiles or a knife imbued with shadow magic as a more fitting punishment when he reached his rooms. He turned the door handle and it silently swung open. That was odd. Normally his chambers were locked. Oh well.

He turned to his dresser and laid his crown and ceremonial jewelry on it, opting for two simple gold armbands. He was about to prepare for his evening bath when a he saw a flicker of pale violet out of the corner of his eye.

His brow creased in puzzlement as he walked out onto his balcony to see what it was. His eyes fell to the back of a figure, silhouetted against the sickle moon. She was obviously female, her long violet hair a stripe against the snow-white gown. Then, she slowly turned around, and her blue-green eyes caught the light of the moon, glowing with an unearthly light. Time seemed to stop for the young pharaoh; the only thing that existed was her. Yami felt himself getting lost in the bottomless pools that were her eyes.

The gown clung to her, outlining breast and hip and flowing past long, shapely legs, while lavender veils floated about her, giving her an ethereal look. It was as if she came from the night sky above. Yami felt his groin throb.

"Ack!" he cried spinning quickly around and clapping a hand over his nether region in hopes of calming the pleasurable sensations suddenly running through his body. He felt the girl kneel next beside him and he looked up at her again, drowning in her liquid eyes.

Then the illusion was shattered when she said, "What in Ra's name are you staring at Moto?"

KNY: Why do I have the sudden urge to sing "Honor to Us All" from Mulan?

Joey: Who cares?! I have finally arrived! Bask in the glory that is Joey!!

KNY: Will you be quiet?! Hey, just how did you find my secret lair of writing, anyway?

Joey: **points to big flashing sign reading "KNY's Secret Lair of Doom"**

KNY: Oh.

Joey: And you say I'm dense!

KNY: That's because you are. Now let me answer the reviewers or I'll throw you to the rabid fangirls!

Joey: Rabid fangirls? Oooh! Bring 'em on!

KNY: Rabid YOAI fangirls!

RYF: SETOXJOEY!! SETOXJOEY!!

Joey: AHHHHHHHHHHHH!! **bolts out door in terror**

Kaiba: Good God, woman! Are you trying to scar me for life?!

KNY: **sees Kaiba** More of them?! **glances at sign** I really gotta take that down...

Replies to Reviews

SGS- Thanks! My work got compared to Xanth!! **faints**

Faero of Egypt- I hope you liked this chapter! **reads review **Daughter of a what?! **sharpens blades **(Note: I don't mean to make fun of you if any of you are Yoai fangirls, I just don't care for it myself.)

Daystorm Mage- Thanks for the tip! It should be fixed now. Glad you're enjoying the random author's notes! **feels the specialness**

kristen (Aquacastle)- Thanks! Here's that update!

KNY: To all that reviewed, here's a bag of cookies! **hands reviewers cookies** And to all who review this go around... Free rental of your fave YGO bishie for one hour apiece!!

**YGO bishies in cages**

Bakura: Won't you please let us out?

KNY: Nope.

Yugi: Please?

KNY: Uh-uh.

All bishies except Kaiba, Bakura, and Marik: **puppy dog pout** Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?

KNY: Ack! Please review quickly before I give in to the kawaiiness!!


	5. A Deal, a Blood Vow, and Crocodiles?

KNY: **is no where to be found**

Kaiba: Where is that stupid woman?! She needs to do the disclaimer!

Yugi: I think she's hiding from SGS.

Ryou: Why?

Yugi: SGS is mad because KNY hasn't updated in forever.

Ryou: Oh.

SGS: **enters** Okay, where is she?!

YGO guys: **shrug**

KNY: **in closet** They'll never find me here! Bwhahahahahaha!!

SGS: There you are!

KNY: **gulps** Damn evil laughter... **runs for her life**

Joey: What about da disclaimer?

KNY: YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST!!! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Kaiba: **sigh** I'll get her...** grabs Yami and ties him to a chair with a cage hanging above** Here KNY, here KNY!

Yoai fangirls: Oooooooooooh, kinky!!

Kaiba: WHAT?! **summons Blue Eyes and chases fangirls**

Yami: **turns green** I think I'm gonna be sick...

KNY: **sees Yami's distress** Oh, you poor bishie! **hugs him and hands him medician**

**cage falls trapping Yami and KNY inside**

SGS: Ha! Now you have to say the disclaimer!

KNY: **glare** Or else what?

SGS: Or I won't let you out of the cage!

KNY: ... **glances at Yami who's still tied to the chair **Works for me!! **happy smile**

SGS: Then how about this, say the disclaimer or I'll take you out of the cage and put Karasu in with Yami!

KNY: You wouldn't! **horrified look equaled only by Yami's**

SGS: **just smirks**

KNY: Fine. **pouts** I hate losing. I don't own YGO. Just Cat-eyes and this plot line. Happy?!

SGS: Yes.** smiles** Now update sooner this time!!

KNY: Meanie...

* * *

A Deal, a Blood Vow, and Crocodiles?

Yami blinked a couple times and it registered in his brain exactly who was in front of him.

"Cat-eyes! What are you doing here?!" he yelped scooting away from her, the unnerving feelings completely gone.

Cat-eyes let out an un-ladylike snort. "You're the one who wanted an audience with me in the first place, or did you forget?"

Oh. Now he remembered. He had requested to see her as soon as he could. He had forgotten in the commotion with Jonouchi. Stupid dueling monkey.

"Oh, yes I did," Yami said, regaining what was left of his dignity.

"Well, what do you want? Take your time. It's not like I have anything I'd rather be doing than hanging around in the royal chambers all day," she replied, voice dry with sarcasm.

Yami's eyebrow twitched. "I wished to discuss your punishment for your crimes."

"Oh, is that all?" Cat-eyes yawned, covering her mouth with a delicate hand. "Why didn't you just have a guard tell me down in the dungeons? Or summon me to the throne room in all your mighty pharaoh-ness?"

"I wanted to speak to you in private. I believe we can negotiate regarding your sentence."

"Negotiate?" She seemed surprised. "What's there to negotiate? I killed him. I should get my punishment just the same as any Egyptian."

"I had thought," Yami answered, "we could lessen your sentence under the circumstances, or at least work out an agreement to our mutual benefit."

"'Mutual benefit'? What could I do for you?" Then her eyes narrowed. "If it's bed company you are hoping for, you can forget it."

"That's not what I meant!" Yami protested, even as his cheeks flushed.

Cat-eyes raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "Uh-huh." Then she glanced out towards the desert at a raising column of dust heading towards the city. "What's that?" she asked.

Yami followed her gaze to the moving sand storm and sighed. "More refugees. Egypt has fallen under hard times lately, as you probably have heard. Attacks from the East from Ra-only-knows who. Some provinces haven't seen rain in months." He turned back towards Cat-eyes and was startled to see a calculating look on her face.

"Maybe there is a way we could help each other…" she half-whispered, the thought still forming in her clever head. With a sharp, decisive nod she snapped her gaze up to Yami's face, her blue-green eyes intense as she studied him. "What would you be willing to do to save Egypt, pharaoh?"

"Anything," Yami replied immediately.

"What if I could help you, make your kingdom prosper again? Would you be willing to provide your aid to my needs?"

"In a heartbeat," he answered, still under that deep, searching gaze.

She studied him for a moment later before saying, "I am in search of an ancient amulet, a family inheritance, as it were."

Yami nodded, puzzled at the apparent change of topic.

"If you will pardon my crime and help me locate my amulet, I will turn Egypt into a virtual utopia."

Despite how unbelievable it sounded, Yami found himself believing every word she said. "How will you do that?" he asked.

She smiled, looking for all the world like a cat cornering a mouse. "Let me worry about that, pharaoh."

He thought for moment. If she said she could, then he had no reason to disbelieve her…

Cat-eyes waited, watching the pharaoh closely for signs of a negative ruling. His violet eyes thoughtful as he considered her proposal. Then he jerked up with a sharp look at her.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he demanded, "You've already proven that you have no qualms about killing to reach your own ends."

Wow. The boy was actually thinking this out. That meant he was taking this seriously, not as just a game. A rare trait in mortal teenagers.

"What? You don't trust me?" She pouted cutely, and had to suppress a laugh at the look of almost comical seriousness on the young ruler's face. Maybe the human plane was giving her a sense of humor.

"No," he answered shortly.

She sighed overdramatically. "To live in such cynical times… Oh well. Hold out your arm," she commanded.

The pharaoh did as she bid him, and inhaled a sharp breath of air as the moonlight caught a glimmer of silver metal. He brought up his hand, black lightning starting to gather in his palm, when he blinked in surprise. He looked down, startled at the shallow cut on his forearm.

"What's the look for?" Cat-eyes asked, making an identical slice in her own arm. She pressed their wounds together, their mixed blood falling to the ground, staining the white marble crimson. She began to speak, her voice taking on a strange tone of reverence.

_"Yami, Pharaoh, _

_I bind myself to you. _

_Our life, our death, _

_Are one, us two. _

_Through dark, through fire, _

_Through war, through strife,_

_I will protect thee, _

_As I would protect my own life."_

The chant finished, released his arm, letting it fall by his side. "There," she said.

"W-what was that?" he asked, shaken and oddly drained.

"Now you have my word of loyalty," she explained. "In no way may I harm you. If you die, I do as well and vice versa, so you can't leave me to die anywhere, either. I will protect you with my life, pharaoh."

He glanced down towards the rapidly healing wound on his arm. He lightly traced the scab already covering his arm, still strangely quiet.

"Any other questions, pharaoh?" Cat-eyes asked, breaking the silence.

The young ruler's head jerked up, as though just remembering she was there.

"No," he answered. "When would you like to leave to start your search?"

"As soon as is feasible," came the instant reply.

"Very well then. I shall inform the servants to pack a bag for your trip." He inclined his head towards her, an appropriate show of respect from a ruler to one in a lower status than himself. "I will also provide a horse and a guide to help you find what you seek. Both of these things should be ready in an hour."

Cat-eyes nodded, gem-stone eyes perfectly serious. "That will do nicely."

She began to walk away towards the door, when a thought occurred to her. She paused in the doorway to the pharaoh's chamber and turned to him, the gauzy curtains blowing around her in the desert wind.

"Pharaoh?"

He blinked, apparently surprised that she had stopped. "Yes?"

She smiled then, a small, soft smile, that bespoke of a gentleness within. "Thanks."

He responded with a warm smile of his own as she turned once more and walked out…

An hour later, Cat-eyes waited at the palace gates, pack in hand. She wore a more serviceable outfit this time, consisting of a white linen tunic and matching breeches tied at the waist with a simple leather belt. A band of cotton wrapped around her head, nose and mouth to protect against the hot Egyptian sun and sand completed the ensemble. Simple, but serviceable.

Little did the palace servants know, she had kept the dress from earlier as well as her few possessions from the House of Nine Jewels. What could she say? She had a fondness for pretty things. And besides, a courtesan could not be without the tools of her trade! If worse came to worse, she could sell some of the gems and survive for a while on her own.

The sound of footsteps against the packed earth behind her alerted her to her guide's presence. Cat-eyes turned towards the hooded figure and nodded sharply.

"Good, you're here. Now we can go."

Her guide nodded wordlessly and gestured towards the horses he brought. Cat-eyes mounted the smaller of the two, a light-footed Arabian, and waited for her companion to do the same. As her mounted a big, hot-blooded bay, his hood shifted slightly, a pale, golden spike peeking out.

Cat-eyes's eyes gleamed in understanding, but she didn't say a word as they galloped out of the palace gates.

As the horses' hooves rang out an even beat on the weathered road, Cat-eyes's guide spoke in a low tone, "Do you have an idea of where to start your search?"

"Yes," she answered, "the temples."

He stopped for a moment, apparently startled at her request, but continued forward along the night-shrouded path.

As they approached the temple district, Cat-eyes headed directly towards her own temple, designated by a great, golden cat crouching just outside the double doors. She dismounted and tied her horse to a post just outside the building, her guide following suit.

She strode forward to the alter, not stopping to bow at the statue as her companion did. Why bother? She was the goddess he was bowing to, after all. She smirked at the expression on his face if he learned who she really was.

Then her gaze fell upon the alter, and her aquamarine eyes widened in shock. No amulet awaited her, just an empty slab of stone. She fell to her knees for the second time in as many days in disbelief.

She opened and closed her mouth several times in an attempt to will herself to speak.

"I-It's not here," she whispered softly.

Now her guide, hearing her distress, raised his head and looked at her in concern.

"Wha-" he cut himself off and began again in a lower voice, "What's wrong, lady?"

"You can drop the act, Moto," Cat-eyes said bitterly, still staring at the floor, "I know it's you."

"How did-" he started, removing his hood and lifting the spell that altered his voice, returning it to his usual medium tenor.

"How did I not?! It's obvious to anyone with common sense!" she snapped, turning towards him, angry for some unknown reason.

"Well you don't have to bite my head off!" he lashed back, irritated at the unexplained attack.

"Well you- no." She returned her gaze to the floor. "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm sorry."

Taken aback by her apology, the pharaoh just swallowed and said, "It's all right. You didn't mean to."

Yami stared at the fallen woman in front of him; he had never seen this Cat-eyes before. She seemed so broken, so delicate, so different from the taunting figure he had seen earlier that day. He didn't like it.

Seeing her so fragile, so… vulnerable, Yami wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and protect her from the world… Then he shook his head. What was with him?! First the bit about her playing a damsel in distress, then the whole incident on the balcony (He didn't even wanna think about that again), and now this! Ra! What was it about this girl?!

"Uh," he began awkwardly, attempting to comfort her without being obvious about doing so, "it'll be okay. I mean, we'll find it."

She jerked her head up, eyes snapping to his face. "And just how are we supposed to do that?! We have no idea where to even begin!"

Despite her angry words, Yami found himself feeling better. Even if she was mad at him, _this_ was more like the Cat-eyes he remembered.

"Sure we have no idea where to begin, but we could at least try. I never pegged you for a quitter, Cat-eyes." He smirked, knowing that would get under her skin.

"I. Am. Not. A. Quitter." She stated, plainly irritated by his words. "I. Will. Find. My. Amulet."

Yami took this moment to take her in again. She was even prettier disheveled and frustrated as she was. Her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes all shiny with anger. They glittered even more like her feline namesake's eyes.

'Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.' Gah! There he was doing it again! 'I gotta stop doing that.'

'But she is reeeeeeeeeeally pretty. Maybe I like her…'

'I do not. I may be physically attracted to her, but that's _it_. I feel no emotional attachment to her whatsoever.'

'But wait, why was I just wanting to hug her?'

'There is a perfectly good answer for that, Yami,' he thought, trying to rationalize. 'You know you hate seeing a distressed woman. Greeeeeeeeeat. Now I'm talking to myself. Wonderful.'

"Wait," Cat-eyes said, breaking his mental argument with himself, "Maybe there _is_ somewhere I could look!"

Yami blinked and looked at her. She was now pacing furiously back and forth in front of the alter, deep in thought.

"Yes, yes. That could work!" There was an excited spark in her eyes now, as whatever she was planning made itself known to her. She started out the door.

"Great!" Yami said, following her outside. "Where do we start?"

She turned to him and blinked in confusion. Had she forgotten he was there?

"Oh no. I don't think you should come. This isn't exactly a _safe_ place," she said, shaking her head.

"All the more reason I should come!" Yami protested. "To keep you safe!"

She laughed then. A silvery, unearthly laugh that sent shivers up and down his back.

"I appreciate your concern, but I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself," she replied smirking, leaving Yami with no doubt she was more dangerous than him. "Besides, I can hardly put the kingdom's ruler at risk, now can I? No, I must go alone." Stubborn, isn't she?

"Not without me you're not," he answered, just as stubbornly "Besides, we made a promise to help each other, remember?" He held out his arm so that the scab from his earlier wound was visible.

She stared hard at him for a moment. "You're not going to back down, are you, pharaoh?"

He grinned. "Nope! I'm probably just as stubborn as you."

Cat-eyes grinned back, and Yami swore her teeth looked like fangs underneath the Egyptian moon. "Fine, but it's your head, Moto."

"Yours too, if I remember correctly," Yami replied teasingly.

"All right, all right," she sighed, holding up her hands in surrender. "We better get moving while we still have moonlight," she said while mounting the Arabian once more and turning toward the vast expense of desert.

Yami began to follow, but stopped suddenly and turned back towards the city. Cat-eyes shot him a questioning look, but Yami just shook his head at her. He raised his arm and a bolt of black lightning flew from his hand, hurtling towards the palace.

"What was that about?" Cat-eyes asked.

"Just completing some unfinished business," he answered smoothly. When he offered no more on the subject, Cat-eyes let it drop and they both rode off into the desert. The rising moon their guide…

Meanwhile in the city…

"Captain Jonouchi?" a guard asked, "Why are you eyeing that crocodile like it's going to attack you?"

Yep. Unfinished business indeed…

* * *

KNY: Wow, just look at me go! Do the smilies work again? I can't tell.

Joey: ... I hate you...

KNY: Yay!!

Joey: Grrrrrrrrrrr... Hey, where are all the others?

KNY: Kiki and SGS? They're over there, trying to break into my interdeminsional closet.

Kiki: Almost got it!! **tugs at door**

SGS: A little more!!

**door breaks open**

**a bright flash of light fills the room and everyone but the three girls vanishes**

KNY: Oo You morons!!

SGS: What did we do?

KNY: You just broke my portal/closet and ripped a hole in the space-time continum!!

Kiki: Aaaaaaaaand?

KNY: **sighs** Why me? **to the others** You just sent all of the bishies out into the anime universe with no way to return to their own!

SGS: That's... bad, right?

KNY: YES!! Very bad! Now we have to go look for them!

Kiki: **looks at the others** You know what that means girls.

KNY: **sigh** Yep. We're going in! Oh, before we go, **turns to readers** Review please! Or not only will you get to see what happens in the story, you won't ge to see where the YGO bishies went!

SGS:Well, where are they?

KNY: **looks at panel of flashing lights** Let me look...

Kiki: **looking at panel** Oooooooooooooh, pretty lights...

KNY & SGS: **sigh**

SGS: Just find out where they went.

KNY: According to my calculations, they should be in... Yu Yu Hakusho?

Replies to Reviewers

SGS: **Ka-click** Hand over the Christmas present and no one gets hurt...

Daystorm Mage: If you think it's dark now... Mwuahahaha... you're in for a surprise... Well, after the 2 or 3 humorous chapters I have planned! U

Faero of Egypt: Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim... Here's the update. Now review or no pocky for you!!


	6. Fluff, Coconuts, and Cheesy Special Effe...

Kiki: What do you mean?

KNY: very slowly They got transported into the YYH world, and now we have to go rescue them.

Kiki: Oh.

SGS: How will we follow them?

KNY: Well since my closet is broken, **SGS and Kiki look sheepish** we'll have to use this! **Holds up remote-control type thing**

Kiki: A TV remote?

KNY: Buwhahahahaha! No, foolish mortal! It is my patented, handy-dandy transportable-gateway-to-an-alternate-dimension-via-the-Andromeda-galaxy-and-hanging-a-left-at-the-universal-gas-station-device! **Insert cheesy commercial music**

SGS: A what?

KNY: **repeats**

Kiki: We need an easier name than that.

SGS: I know! We can call it the "Portable Portal"!

Kiki: I like that! Portable Portal, it is.

KNY: **mutters** I liked my name better…

SGS: Sooooooooooooo… how does this Portable Portal work?

KNY: You just push the big button-

Kiki: You mean this one? **Pushes big button**

**A bright flash of light fills the room and the girls vanish**

SGS: Did it work?

Kiki: Judging by the fact that the sky is a weird greenish-purple and there are flying purple pigs in it, I don't think so.

KNY: Wrong button, Kiki…

Kiki: Oops! **Sheepish smile**

SGS: Uh, guys? Could we please leave? **Shoos away small house with wings** The house flies are just _horrid_ here!

Kiki: Okay! What is the right button, KNY?

KNY: You want to push the big _blue _button, not the big red button.

Kiki: Ooooooooooh… **pushes correct button**

**Three girls vanish again**

Kiki: Yay! It works! **Looks around at YYH world**

KNY: Told ya it would.

SGS: Uh, KNY?

KNY: Yes?

SGS: I know we were transported into the YYH world, but were we supposed to materialize _in the air?_

KNY: Uh, no.

**Girls look at each other, then cling together and fall out of the sky screaming**

Kuwabara and Yusuke: **fighting again**

Kurama: **watching boredly**

Hiei: **silently hoping the baka will finally die**

Kurama: Five bucks on Yusuke.

Hiei: Hn.

KNY, Kiki, SGS: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! **Fall on Kuwabara and Yusuke knocking them all out**

Kurama and Hiei: **staring at the assorted pile of humans and a cat demon**

Kurama: And here we go again. **Sighs and picks up the girls placing them underneath a tree. Sits next to KNY waiting for them to wake up**

Hiei: Hn. **Vanishes and then reappears a moment later holding a bucket. Smirks and empties bucket on the unconscious Spirit Detective and his baboon sidekick.**

**The two jump up, ice cold water dripping from their bodies.**

Kuwabara: Ahhhh! It burns! I mean- It freezes!

Yusuke: Brrr-freakin'-err! What did ya do that for Hiei!

Hiei: **curtly **To annoy you.

Yusuke: Grrrrrrrrrrrrr…

Kiki: **Is woken up because of her two favorite YYH bishies arguing. Sits up and looks around. Sees Yusuke and Hiei. **YUSUKE AND HIEI! I HAVE DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN! **Glomps**** the two confused bishies**

Yusuke: Ack! Where'd you come from!

Hiei: Onna… **Eyebrow twitches** Let go.

Kiki: **Is too deliriously happy to hear them**

SGS: **Sits up momentarily **SHUT UP! **Throws shoe and lays back down**

Hiei: **Gets hit in head with shoe and get knocked out**

Yusuke: How did a _shoe_ do that?

Kiki: It was an authoress's shoe. We have special author powers over the story we are in.

Yusuke: **Is completely lost** Oh. Okay!

Kiki: **Is having difficulty deciding what to do with the unconscious Hiei. Smiles and settles for simply snuggling with the bishie knowing to take advantage of his current state as he would never let her do this if he was awake.**

KNY: **Wakes up to Kurama's pretty eyes staring at her.** K-Kurama?

Kurama: How do you know us?

KNY: **Blushes and draws little circles on the ground** Umm… that is to say…

Kiki: Aw, spit it out, ya baka neko!

KNY: Shut up!

Kiki: Awwwwwwwwwww… does someone have a ittle crush?

KNY: **bright red** I do not!

Kiki: Then why are you all red?

KNY: Interdemensional travel will do that to you!

Kiki: Suuuuuuuuuuuuuure, KNY. If that's what you say…

KNY: **Glares at Kiki and then turns back to Kurama, looking at the ground as she explains everything**

Kurama: Oh. So you're three authoresses and are trying to find some boys from another world and you say they got transported here?

KNY: Yep! So have you seen 'em?

Kurama: What do they look like?

KNY: Well, one is very short and his hair looks like a koosh ball with gel. There is a boy who looks similar to him, only taller, narrower eyes, different bangs, and a deeper voice. One is very tall with blonde hair normally seen with a clueless expression. He has a Brooklyn accent. Another one is also very tall, icy blue eyes, brown hair, fetish for trench coats. Two other boys that look like twins, they both have white hair, but one looks a lot meaner than the other. And one last set of look-alikes, these are pale blonde with tan skin and lavender eyes. The mean one has bad DBZ hair.

Kurama: **Thinks for a moment.** I think I saw some matching your description walk by here a little while ago. A medium-tall once wanted to play a game with me while a tall blonde tried to arm-wrestle Yusuke and two rather sadistic looking boys were engaged in a conversation with Hiei about how to maim, disfigure, and kill those you hate.

KNY: **Nods** Yep. That would be them. **Realizes something** Shit! **Pulls out laptop**

Kurama: Um, KNY-san? What are you doing?

KNY: I have to start the fic!

Kurama: Fic?

KNY: SGS will explain! Must write!

Kurama: **Sighs, giving up. Turns and attempts to wake SGS so she can explain KNY's meaning.**

Disclaimer:

KNY: **picking petals off a daisy. **I own 'em. I own 'em not. I own 'em. I own 'em… NOT! Stupid flower! **Stomps daisy into oblivion**

* * *

Earthbound Goddess

Chapter Six

Fluff, Coconuts, and Cheesy Special Effects

The two travelers rode towards the swiftly setting moon, the only sound their mounts' hooves searching for a foothold in the sand.

"Where exactly are we going?" Yami asked, breaking the silence.

His companion hesitated a moment before answering, "To a very special place. Kind of like… well, what's the name you call the land you summon your monsters from?"

Yami blinked, startled she knew of it. "The Shadow Realm. Why?"

Cat-eyes nodded. "The Shadow Realm is but a small part of a larger place. An entire _dimension_ of ever-changing worlds existing alongside this one, yet only accessible by very special individuals."

"Like who?" Yami asked, curious.

"Like yourself, for example. Shadow sorcerers, mediums, even your average fortune teller can access the other world to some extent. Although the farthest any human has managed to go has been the Shadow Realm."

"So we're going to the Shadow Realm?" he didn't seem at all perturbed. That would change soon enough.

"Not exactly," Cat-eyes corrected. "We will probably pass through it, but it is not our final destination."

"Then how do we get there? I mean, if the farthest any human has gone has been the Shadow Realm then…"

She then stopped her horse and slowly turned to look at the adolescent pharaoh. Her pupils slitted and her irises glowed in the moonlight. Yami felt as though he was seeing a power as old as the stars and twice as mysterious.

"Let me handle that, pharaoh," she answered, voice like a velvet-covered dagger. A secretive half-smile tugged at her lips, and her eyes sparked once more with moonfire as she turned back to the desert.

That smile… it seemed oddly familiar. Yami could have sworn that he had seen that look somewhere before, but couldn't quite place where.

He shrugged to himself and hurried to catch up with Cat-eyes's retreating back.

The riders continued all through the next day, eating in the saddle and only pausing to water the horses.

Finally, just as the sun was beginning to set, they came across the oasis on the map.

"We can rest here for the night," Cat-eyes said, surveying the area before them.

"Thank you!" Yami cried as he dismounted, wincing in pain from his saddle sores. Oh was he going to be stiff in the morning!

"Get some firewood, pharaoh," Cat-eyes ordered. "I will tend to the horses and prepare dinner."

Yami opened his mouth to protest that she couldn't possibly do all that on her own, but then saw the futility of it and turned to a tall palm tree. He concentrated and formed a small ball of black lightning at its base. He would have to go slowly, lest he accidentally set it on fire.

Yet, just because nothing _else_ in his life could go smoothly, as he cut, a small coconut fell out of the tree and landed-yep, you guessed it- right on our dear pharaoh's head.

"By Anubis's teeth!" the teen cursed as he rubbed his smarting head. Then he heard a small creak. His violet eyes widened as the tree began to sway dangerously in the air. His gaze flickered briefly towards Cat-eyes as she bent over their packs, digging for rations while the horses grazed peacefully several feet away. If the tree fell, it would surely severely injure her, if not kill her!

The world seemed to move in a cheesy slow motion segment like in a bad suspense movie as the tree began to lean down, obeying the call of gravity, just as the coconut had. Yami yelled to warn her and ran towards the dancing girl, but the slow-mo sequence snapped and the world sped up once more.

He shoved the startled girl out of harm's way, just as the great palm fronds came crashing down.

He watched the branches approach, wondering what in Ra's name was he doing, sacrificing himself for some girl he hardly knew who was too stupid to know when to move! Was this how the great pharaoh was going to die? Not in some heroic battle or sorcerous duel on which the fate of the kingdom rested, but crushed by a bloody palm tree.

'THIS IS STUPID!' was his last thought before darkness consumed his conscious thought and his brain went on auto-pilot…

"WATCH OUT!" Cat-eyes turned towards the young pharaoh's cry in time to see the thick palm branches loom above her. Her eyes widened as she tried to move, but her feet seemed rooted to the ground. She glanced down and saw a black and purple mist covering her sandals all the way up her calves.

Her eyes narrowed. So that's how it was, eh? Shadow Magic!

She glance back up only to see that spiky-haired idiot running at her, full-throttle. He roughly shoved her out of the way as the tree came down.

She landed on her butt- hard. When she opened her eyes, all she could see was the pharaoh's upper body sticking out of a mass of limbs.

Cat-eyes quickly went to work. She moved aside the branches and carefully freed his legs. Luckily, he had been smart enough to roll to the side to avoid the full weight of the tree so his legs wouldn't be crushed. She picked him up, cradling him in her arms like a small child, and gently laid him on a nearby sand dune. After she tended to the numerous small scratches covering his skin, she glared at the tree, rolled up her sleeves, and began to make a fire.

When she had a roaring blaze, and numerous scorch marks on her sleeves, (Hey, they didn't teach you wilderness skills in the House, okay!) she sat down next to the still comatose teen.

She exhaled a small puff of air and glanced at him. A little pang of guilt, another human trait she had come to abhor, hit her stomach. He wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for her.

She groaned and gave in to her conscience, gently placing the sleeping pharaoh's head in her lap as the checked him for any signs of further injury.

Satisfied that he was going to be fine, she began to move him back into his sandy nest when she was suddenly struck by how he looked, laying there in the snow-white fabric of her lap. He looked so… so _handsome_. Her long fingers lightly traced his cheekbone down to his jaw-line, brushing his skin in an almost wistful caress. She gently laid a fingertip on the young pharaoh's lips.

'I wonder…'

She began to bend forward, but immediately snapped up as her charge began to twitch in his sleep. That jerked her out of whatever spell the magic of the night had cast on her senses. That was the only explanation for her strange behavior.

'I mean, _really_,' she thought, snorting, 'he's _human_!'

Then, Cat-eyes felt something tighten around her wrist, so she looked down only to see the pharaoh's hand firmly clasping hers. Her eyes narrowed. She needed to discourage this behavior.

Oh yes, she knew what had been going through our favorite spiky-haired teen that evening on the balcony. She had seen that look many a time before. Longing… passion… _lust_… but it was her duty as a goddess to make sure that it remained a feeling and nothing more.

Her father's words still echoed in her head. _"Mortal must not love immortal. That is a key rule as your role as a goddess. You must be as loving as a mother, yet as distant as the moon."_

She should make him let go. She really should. Minutes ticked by without any movement.

'SIGH! Stupid conscience…'

Yet as she sat there, staring at their interlocked hands, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She groaned and laid back against the dune, the rapidly cooling sand shifting to accommodate for her body. She spared one last glance at their intertwined hands and one for the pharaoh's face before she closed her eyes and let the sweet oblivion of sleep claim her…

_"Now what we have here, your highness, is a well-known piece by the great Senusert and… ah, I fear your highness is not paying attention."_

_Yami was snapped out of his reverie by the dry voice of his teacher Sheftu, Scholar of Egyptian Literature. "Eh? Oh, sorry Sheftu."_

_The old scholar rubbed his temples as if seeking to relieve a headache. "If your highness does not pay attention, how does his highness expect to meet his father's expectations?"_

_Yami mentally groaned. He had heard this speech plenty of times before._

_'If his highness would simply pay attention to his studies and spent less time daydreaming, then your education would proceed much quicker and thy father would be pleased,' Yami mentally recited in time to Sheftu's lecture. _

_"Daydreaming in class again, Atemu?" a smooth deep voice said from the doorway. Yami turned to see his father not so much as standing in the arched doorframe as **filling** it. The Pharaoh Amenemhat was a giant of a man, sinuous muscles taut under tanned skin. He regarded his son with amused, dark eyes, his cropped black hair showing flashes of ruby in the afternoon light._

_It took Yami a moment to realize that his father had asked him a question. "I'm afraid so, father." Yami grinned sheepishly._

_The pharaoh did not return his smile, but his dusky eyes laughed in his caramel-colored face. He nodded to Yami's teacher. "I would like to have a word with my son. You may leave."_

_Sheftu bowed until his wrinkled nose nearly brushed the floor and backed out the door, still bowing._

_"Now then," Amenemhat said, turning to his son, "How about we focus back on your reading?"_

_Yami scooted over on the bench to make room. "But I thought you had business with the ambassadors from the other cities today? When did you find the time to come here?"_

_His father groaned. "They have been arguing about fishing rights for the past two hours. I told them I had some urgent business to attend to, and that they could find me when they reached an agreement."_

_"Ah."_

_Amenemhat glanced at the text Yami was supposed to be memorizing and winced. "He had you reading out of the "Pert Em Hru" (The Book of the Dead)? No wonder you were daydreaming!" He chuckled softly. "Let's try something a little more interesting." And with that, he walked over to the shelf, scanned the dusty scrolls, and with a satisfied nod, pulled out a tattered tome, obviously well-used and much loved. He carefully unrolled it on the sandalwood desk for Yami to read. The title read "Keepers of the Guardian Way: Sekhmet and Bastet". _

_"I used to love to read this when I was your age," Amenemhat said proudly. He pointed at an article near the middle of the scroll. "Go on. Give it a try."_

_'Lessee…' Yami thought, reading the hieroglyphics on the old papyrus. 'Squiggle… stick man… wavy line… constipated eagle… squiggle…'_

_It was a detailed description of what Bastet had done for the kingdom since it was first created. It was mostly due to her power that Egypt was as advanced as it was. Then Yami came across a brief paragraph describing the goddess's physical features._

**_Cat's eyes in the face of a woman... seem to promise the most unusual and selective delights as deep and seductive they glitter... the cat face is an ensemble of marvelously matched and balanced features and the total result is one to stir the heart. Where the human female is able to approach them, she becomes irresistible…_**

_Then Yami's gaze fell to the accompanying artist's illustration. She was mainly humanoid, with two soft cat ears jutting from her head as well as a slender tail came from the base of her spine. She was clad in the thin, off-the-shoulder top donned by only the highest ranking ladies and a pair of semi-transparent harem pants, leaving her slender waist bare. He could just make out the shape of her calf and hips through the frail material. Then he looked up at her face once more. Her eyes were slit-pupiled and beautiful, just as the author said they were in his passage. And a small, secretive half-smile hovered about her sensuous lips…That smile seemed familiar… _

_Then the picture before Yami began to swirl like a cartoon flashback as he began to return to the realm of the waking…_

Yami opened his sleep-fogged eyes and rubbed at them with his free hand. He began to stretch, when he realized that his fingers were wrapped around something. Someone's fingers.

But at this particular moment in time, he didn't really care. He just wanted to snuggle back down in the warm nest he had been sleeping in. It was just so comfy! Then he noticed just whose fingers were intertwined with his own.

'Cat-eyes!' he thought, a lump lodging itself in his throat as he froze, waiting to see what would happen.

When a few heart-racing moments had passed and she had yet to move, Yami cautiously let out the breath he hadn't been aware he'd been holding. She was sleeping… fortune smiled for once!

Yami glared at her sleeping form. This was all her fault. If she had moved when he told her to, then he never would have been squished by that stupid tree.

Ra, she was annoying! All that day he had found himself glancing at her slender neck or trailing on some elusive curve of her cheek. Even now, as she lay on the silvery sand, she captivated him. Her soft skin gleaming in the moonlight, a stray curl lying across her cheek. His hands itched to brush it back into place, but he firmly clenched his shaking fists together.

What was wrong with him! Why was he feeling such things for a mere harem girl! This girl with the sharp tongue, flashing, angry eyes, half-smiling lips…

His thoughts lingered for another moment on her lips, and before he could stop himself, he was leaning towards her, feeling her soft breathing against his face. He inched towards her… only to be stopped by ten inches of steel sliding in front of his nose.

Yami jerked up to see a large, hairy arm attached to the hand that held the sword. He opened his mouth to demand that he explain himself, when the man smiled humorlessly and smacked him with the flat of the blade.

And for the second time that day, Yami got to visit dreamland…

* * *

KNY: Muwhahahahahaha! Cliffy!

Kurama: **Reading over KNY's shoulder **You do realize that your reviewers are going to kill you, right KNY-san?

KNY: He called me KNY-san… **swoons** And yes, I know. I'm trying to achieve the title of "Evil Queen of Cliffhangers"!

Kurama: You just may succeed.

KNY: Yay!

Yusuke: **Sneaks away from Kiki and the unconscious Hiei. Walks up behind KNY.**

KNY: **Stiffens.** Urameshi, you have ten seconds to remove your hand from my ass. One… Two… **Punches Yusuke into nearest wall.**

Yusuke: **Pries face out of rubble. **You said ten seconds!

KNY: I suck at math. So sue me!

Kurama: Shouldn't we locate your missing friends KNY-san?

KNY: Yes, let's round up the others and go.

Replies to Reviews:

**Duelchick901**- I made another author's favorites list! **Does a happy dance.** Glad to meet a fellow cat lover! I like dogs too, but there's just such a quiet elegance about cats… **Sighs.**

**KawaiiKoorimeYokai**- Thanks, Kiki. Here's your update!

**SGS**- Good luck rescuing Tama-baby! Yes! Crocodiles! **Laughs manically** Okay! **Pokes male parental unit repeatedly.** Finish writing!


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